Vivendi 2003 net loss narrows

France's Vivendi Universal posted a worse-than-expected 2003 net loss on Wednesday but turned an operating profit as the media and communications firm slowly emerges from more than two years of turmoil.
Vivendi is still in the red, mostly because of one-time items, and faces scepticism from analysts about its medium to long-term strategy. But it has usually managed operating profits at most of its core units.
It reported a 2003 net loss of 1.143 billion euros ($1.41 billion) compared to a year-earlier loss of 23.3 billion euros - the deepest known loss ever by a French company. The figure was worse than an analysts' consensus forecast for a loss of 917 million.